12-13-12 AMOOXP Day 19

AMOOXP Day 19: 1994

In June of that year, we had moved yet again, piling everything in cars and Bob's pickup and moving the contents of our apartment into a rental house in Navasota were we would, thankfully, stay put for six years. I graduated in August with my Masters and gotten on with Blinn College in Bryan, part time, which was only twenty minutes from Navasota. We lived just blocks from Bob Sr. and Nell.

Nicholas was a gingerbread man on the Mother Goose Daycare float in Navasota where Muna worked.

He was also very taken with a little animated Santa in his rocking chair and would climb up to push the button over and over again and hear him talk.

And this was the year of 101 Dalmatiens. My word, we watched the VHS tape constantly, rewinding and starting over when it finished. There is nothing like a two year old's obsession. So this year his new Christmas PJs had to be Dalmatiens.

And to his great delight, over Christmas, Bob Sr. and Nell puppy-sat a litter of Dalmatiens overnight for their friends who were going out of town for Christmas. 

Nicholas loved going to Muna's house

Nicholas and I also got a bike with toddler chair that year.

We'd gotten together with the Wilson's the weekend before in Navasota so they could be home on Christmas Day in Huntsville. Then we came back on Christmas Eve for another round with Muna and Papa again (hence the different clothes Nicholas is in).

It was in an attempt to get Nicholas on to something other than 101 Dalmatiens, for my own sanity, I pushed the new Disney flick that year, Lion King, as much as possible. The talking Simba was a hit, although I'm not sure why I was in the habit of repeating every new word he said. Toddler-mommy-brain side effect, I suppose.

And then on Christmas Day, Mom and Dad and MM and Granddaddy came to Nicholas' house. And we again had a costume change, starting out in a polar bear sweater that was too itchy.

"oddo" means opens in Nicholas speak. Everything edible needed to be "oddo" with "kee" 

(Dad uses the little knife on his keys to open things)

So we had a quick change into his favorite soft hoodie for the remainder of the festivities. No one is in a Christmas mood when you're itchy, but it's a million times worse when you're two.

 Mom and Nicholas play with the Sesame Street Smart Street toy, whose music and intro, played every time you turn it on, still haunt my dreams...

 The year of the horsie with galloping sounds.

 And the year of the play phone that had a recorded message from Pap and Mimi talking to Nicholas.

And the year of the Beep-Beep, which had been almost discovered the weekend we were down in Houston earlier in the month, when Nicholas caught sight of it in one room and after some quick misdirection, we got it hidden in another place before he processed what he'd seen. It didn't stop him from walking around their house calling out "Beep-Beep?" in a sad, angry little voice, quite sure he knew exactly what he'd seen.

The joy of having it come to stay at his house on Christmas morning, however, outweighed the trauma inflicted.

(I love the foot in this one)